Rational thoughts:
• Yes, it’s a bit long, but I never felt it until I got out of the theater. The jokes were funny, the banter was fantastic, the egos were massive, and the fights were epic. There’s a real creativity in how the different Avengers (and their various power sets) work together and combine in different attack patterns.

• Hawkeye and Black Widow need their own gritty black-ops S.H.I.E.L.D. movie. Get on that, Marvel.

• A bunch of Whedon alumni show up, including Alexis Denisof, Enver Gjokaj (spelled that right without looking it up, I swear), and Ashley Johnson.

• The 3D is pretty good without being too gimmicky.

• The post-credits scene is a bit of a head-scratcher.

That’s all I’m going to say about it. Keep your expectations right where they are, take a deep breath, and take the plunge to see the movie in theaters this weekend. I know I’ll be paying for a ticket as soon as I can.

Before you get to that theater, check out our episode on the Avengers below (no spoilers, I promise):

Due to Blip embed code issues, you'll need to click the image to see our Avengers episode. Sorry.